Joel Embiid could be another Los Angeles Lakers gamble that pays dividends

In this Jan. 13, 2014, file photo, Kansas center Joel Embiid (21) drives past Iowa State forward Georges Niang during an NCAA college basketball game in Ames, Iowa. Embiid didn't pick up a basketball until a few years ago, when a friend informed him that very few 7-footers succeed in soccer. A couple months later, Embiid was lured to a basketball camp in the Cameroon capital of Yaounde run by Timberwolves forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, one of just two players from Cameroon to have played in the NBA. (Charlie Neibergall/The Associated Press File)

The rich history of the Los Angeles Lakers has always been crafted with equal measures brilliance, boldness and good luck.

And as they stand on the cusp of another crossroad, they’d be wise to remember the formula that’s enabled them to hang 16 championship banners, including 10 over the past three decades.

Or how the recent misfortune of Kansas star Joel Embiid might create just enough apprehension atop next week’s draft board for them to grab a potentially franchise-altering big man.

But only if they seize the moment.

Just as Bill Sharman and Jerry West and Jerry Buss and Mitch Kupchak and, yes, even Jim Buss, have done at various times over the years to nudge the Lakers back to greatness.

It was disclosed Thursday that Embiid suffered a stress fracture in his right foot and he underwent surgery Friday, raising red flags all over the NBA.

Specifically among the six teams standing in front of the Lakers heading into the draft.

Before the injury, Embiid was considered by many to be the top player available, a virtual lock to land with the Cleveland Cavaliers with the No. 1 pick.

Now, there is growing concern that investing a high lottery pick on the 20-year-old 7-footer might mean decades of regret the likes of the Portland Trailblazers, who’ve spent the past three decades recovering from ill-fated draft decisions that saddled them with injury-plagued big men Sam Bowie and Greg Oden.

When they could have had Michael Jordan or Kevin Durant.

Given the money and long-term impact involved, the fear is valid.

Just ask the Trailblazers.

For the Lakers, it might just be the golden ticket that delivers them from a prolonged rebuilding period to another dynamic era.

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If Embiid tumbles all the way to the seventh pick, as some suspect might happen, the Lakers must absolutely roll the dice on him.

Even if it means waiting a full year while he nurses his foot back to strength.

The chance to sidestep a potentially lengthy rebuilding phase by drafting a physically gifted big man like Embiid — and then building around him with the money available under the salary cap — far outweighs the risk of his career unfolding like Bowie’s or Oden’s.

Players like Embiid alter the direction of a franchise, much more so than the players the Lakers are likely to choose from with the seventh pick.

Again, even if it means Embiid sitting out next season and the Lakers finishing out of the playoffs again — which isn’t a terrible thought given the first-round pick the Lakers owe the Phoenix Suns next year is top-five protected.

The thought of teaming a healthy Embiid with another impact rookie in 2015 is intriguing enough to be OK with punting on next season.

Let alone knowing money will be available to invest around them in the form of impact free agents in 20015 and beyond.

It’s a chance not only to expedite the rebuilding process, but also avoid the dreaded middle ground the Lakers might be destined for without the kind of All-Star talent needed to be a real player in the NBA.

You gradually rebuild with players like Marcus Smart or Aaron Gordon, whom the Lakers might be pondering with their pick next Thursday.

You attach a rocket launcher to the process with someone like Embiid.

Yes, there is fear he might be a long-term risk.

But the greater danger is passing on him if he’s available, then watching him grow into an All-Star.

Or whiffing on the chance to pull yourself back to prominence.

And worse, getting caught in the trap of fear and reluctance into which so many others fall.

The one the Lakers seized time and again while paving a road to greatness.

They’ve never done middle ground, and they never should.

It’s always been big dreams, even if the fall is every bit as daunting as the ascent is grand.

The Lakers have stood at this intersection many times before, and their willingness to gamble on the potential for greatness when so many others were gripped by anxiety — or ignorance — has always navigated them back to prominence.

The New Orleans Jazz, needing a big name to sell tickets, sent the Lakers a slew of draft picks as compensation for an aging Gail Goodrich in 1977 — one of which ended up being No. 1 pick in the 1979 draft.

Hello, Magic Johnson.

The Cleveland Cavaliers foolishly gave the Lakers a future first-round pick for veteran forward Don Ford.

That’s how the Lakers wound up with the top pick in the 1982 draft and landed James Worthy.

The Orlando Magic bungled their relationship with Shaquille O’Neal, opening the door just wide enough for the West and Jerry Buss to push all their chips to the middle of the table and steal the most dominant center of his era.

To many decision makers, Kobe Bryant was just a skinny 17-year-old kid making the jump from high school to the NBA in 1996.

But to West, Bryant was the next Michael Jordan. West capitalized on everyone’s indecision by hoodwinking the Charlotte Hornets into trading the draft-day rights to Bryant to the Lakers for Vlade Divac. Another era of Lakers greatness was soon ushered in.

And when the Memphis Grizzlies inexplicably decided to move on from Pau Gasol, it was Kupchak and Jim Buss covertly convincing Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace to trade him to the Lakers, ensuring two more championships and three trips to the NBA finals.

Now comes Embiid and his foot injury and the anxiety-induced firestorm raging at the the top of the draft order.

While everyone else worries about getting burned, the Lakers should recognize the chance to jump-start their franchise.